Officials on Thursday ceremonially broke ground on a $175 million expansion to the Oklahoma State University Medical Center in Tulsa 

The roughly 180,000-square-foot project includes eight new surgical suites, a pharmaceutical research lab and a sky bridge connecting OSU Medical Center to the James Mountain Inhofe VA Medical Center, which is under construction across the street. 

“What we do in this building and what we will do in the new building will change Oklahoma for generations to come,” OSU Medical Center President Finny Mathew said. “The minds that we mature, the hands that we teach will go out into the rural communities, will go out into cities and will heal people and continue to make Oklahoma the thriving state that it is today.”

Oklahoma ranks first in the country in the percentage of medical school graduates practicing in health professional shortage areas and 10th nationally in medical school graduates practicing in rural areas, Mathew said.

“When we think about what these people will do in their communities, the lives they will save, and the economic impact they will have going forward, it’s exponential for the state,” he said. 

Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, was among the speakers at the event, which was attended by more than 100 people.

“The OSU Medical Center has long been a cornerstone of healthcare in our region, providing critical care to thousands of patients every year and serving as a leading teaching hospital for future physicians,” Neal said. “With this expansion, we are ensuring that our city remains at the forefront of medical innovation and training.”

Thursday’s expansion is part of a $600 million medical campus that includes the Inhofe VA Medical Center, an inpatient mental health facility, and the OSU Pharmaceutical Research Lab and Clinical Center, said Johnny Stephens, interim president of OSU-Tulsa and president of the OSU Center for Health Sciences.

The medical district represents the largest construction project in downtown Tulsa since the Williams Center in the 1970s, according to the Tulsa World.

“This designation as a teaching hospital is important,” Stephens said of the OSU Medical Center project. “And it’s become pretty rare in our country to have a true teaching hospital so directly connected a medical school.

“We’re very fortunate , indeed, to have OSUMC as our trusted partner, along with Saint Francis Health System, to really make it the best that it can be.”